The Principle of Reversion

Reversion is the action of Tao. Gentleness is the function of Tao. The things of this world come from Being, And Being (comes) from Non-being.

(Tao Teh King 40)

Reversion is the action of Tao.

Wu: “The movement of the Tao consists in Returning.”
Byrn: “All movement returns to the Tao.”

A serpent eating its own tail is an ancient symbol of the continual cycle of return in existence: perpetual creation and dissolution, projection and withdrawal. So it would be a mistake to think that Lao Tzu means only the return of the form into the formless. Rather, he means the return into the formless followed by the immediate return from the formless into form. This is because the Tao is ONE at all times. Consequently this Unity must always move in perpetual outward/inward movement. It is like the pendulum of a clock. It swings from one side to another, yet is itself always exactly the same. So the Tao is ever the same, yet ever-changing, because that is Its nature. This is one instance in which the question “Why?” is only answered by “Because.”

Gentleness is the function of Tao.

Wu: “The use of the Tao consists in softness.”

Feng and English: “Yielding is the way of the Tao.”

Since the Tao is ever in a process of change, in the same way the knower of the Tao is ever flexible, ever able to change, to evolve, yet always established at the unmoving, unchanging center that is the Tao.

The things of this world come from Being, and Being (comes) from Non-being.

Creation and all it contains come from the state that is manifestation, from the condition known in India as “the Day of Brahma.” But that state arises from non-manifestation known as “the Night of Brahma.” Again, we have a perpetual cycle, a movement between manifest and unmanifest. Yet, behind it all is That which transcends all these dualities: the Tao.

About OCOY.org

This site presents the path of meditation and practical spiritual life and is a service of Light of the Spirit Monastery (Atma Jyoti Ashram), which is located in Cedar Crest, New Mexico, USA.

Dedication of OCOY.org

This site is inspired by and dedicated to Paramhansa Yogananda, who introduced yoga meditation and the goal of self realization to the American people, and whose writings reveal the underlying unity of original Christianity and original Yoga.